y'all get loud oh, feel the breeze... i've been around playin' and gamblin' but lord i'm free yeah saddle up baby, ride up close to me an open highway's all i'll ever need last of a dyin' breed last of a dyin' breed yeah a wide open highway's all i'll ever need last of a dyin' breed last of a dyin' breed last of a dyin' breed last of a dyin' breed yes, sir ♪

[applause] craig: lynyrd skynyrd! good night, everybody! good night! captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--

breaking news tonight at 11:00. a horrific smash-up on the springfield interchange. three people are dead. tonight one of those ramps is still shut down. it happened around 7:00. right now the i-495 flyover ramp to i-95 is still blocked

off. police tell us a semitruck was stopped in traffic when it was rear-ended by a pickup truck. all three people in the pickup truck died. the semi driver wasn't hurt. get ready, more snow is headed our way. meteorologist erica grow joins us with some news that some may welcome while others will say bah-humbug. >> isn't that the case. tomorrow will be fine but we are tracking another storm that is bringing light rain to houston right now and the gulf coast. besides that we are going to be fine the next several hours. let's take a look at some of those awful wind gusts we had earlier today. 49 miles per hour in fairfield. spring dale in prince george's county had a peak wind gust of 50 miles per hour. the winds have really settled down. we still have some gusty winds in manassas where the peak gust is 25 miles per hour the last hour. 24 miles per hour in gaithersburg, 22 in martinsburg, 29 in hagerstown

but those winds will continue to relax as we head through the overnight hours. this is what you will wake up to tomorrow morning. down right cold temperatures. when you have clear skies and light winds, that tends to let any of the heat that we got during the day escape right back up into the atmosphere. mostly clear to start out the day. temperatures down to 22 to 30 by 7:00 a.m. at 9:00, sunny but cool with temperatures in the upper 20s to low 30s. derek, coming up i will tell you more about that developing winter storm. back to you. >> thank you, erica. retired general norman schwarzkopf died tonight. the cares it mattic american -- the charismatic american military man led operation desert storm. schwarzkopf known by some as stormin' norman reportedly died at his home in tampa. he had retired there in nineteen that after serving as commander in chief of central command. former president h. w. bush

offered his condolences in a statement calling schwarzkopf a true american patriot. he was 78. but as for our 41st president, you've likely heard that his health is failing but an aid to the former president h. w. bush says put those thoughts back in the closet, that he has every intention of getting better and going home. right now, though, he remains in intensive care as doctors are dealing with a stubborn fever. he was admitted a month ago for bronchitis. that aid did ask that we keep the elder bush and his family in our prayers, and we will. it is, of course, president bush's reversal on that famous no new taxes promise that many credit with ending his political career. more than 20 years later the no new taxes pledge is a factor in a deal to keep the country from going over that fiscal cliff. only four days to go when big

tax hikes and spending cuts are scheduled to kick in. president obama came back to d.c. today. he is calling congressional leaders to the white house tomorrow. the senate was insession today but offered no new solutions. the house is still out on vaca, but they've been called back. today was pretty much blame game thursday. gary nurenberg is here with that. >> derek, the harshest words came from senate majority leader harry reid when he accused house speaker john boehner of both running a dictatorship, and then of being unable to control his caucus. bottom line with four days left -- >> i don't know, timewise, how it can happen now. >> the senate democratic leader blames republican house speaker john boehner ?ea.'s waiting until january 3rd to get re- elected as speaker before he gets serious. >> of boehner's house, reid said -- >> it's being operated with a dictatorship of the speaker.

>> the house remains on vacation. >> we're not working. every democrat, every republican ought to be here. >> president obama returned to d.c. thursday after his hawaiian vacation, met with aids, and called congressional leaders to the white house. cbs quotes sources saying, reid is ready to introduce a plan that would extend the bush era tax cuts for taxpayers making less than $250,000 a year, but not until republicans agree not to block it. >> republicans aren't about to write a blank check or anything senate democrats put forward, just because we find ourselves at the edge of the cliff. >> and this endless deadlock, this complete failure to compromise on seemingly anything and to govern -- >> the american people have spoken, and they've basically voted for the status quo. the president got re-elect, the senate is still in democratic hands and the house is still in republican hands. the american people have spoken. >> if there is no deal income

tax cuts and payroll tax cuts are scheduled to expire at the end of the year. 2 million jobless americans lose their unemployment benefits. the president and congress impressional leaders from both parties are scheduled to meat at the white house at 3:00 tomorrow to try to find some way out of this mess. they have met at the white house before to try to find some way out of this mess, and every single time they did that, they did not find a way out of this mess. if past is prologue, derek, get out your wallet. >> well, gary, as the mess, as you describe it, looms closer and closer, what do you really want to know about this fiscal cliff? join us tomorrow for 9news at 5:00. we'll have an expert here to begin to answer your questions which, of course, are more and more relevant. after a hyattsville man tried to take his own life, a calm and cool 911 dispatcher, a mother's prayer on facebook and the power of love and friendship seemed to reach out and save him. tonight, david dawson wants to

help others what may be considering suicide learn from what he has been through. debra alfarone spoke to dawson, his mom, and that dispatcher. it's a story will you only see on 9news. >> reporter: they get more than a million calls hear at the prince george's county 911 center, but tonight i want to tell you about just one call that ended up saving one life and impacted so many others. >> i just wanted her to get somebody here right away. i knew that he needed somebody right away. >> reporter: linda dawson needed a lifeline. one month ago her son david tried to kill himself. he called 911, and it was the toughest day of her life. >> so i took a deep breath, and she started counting. that one, two, three, four. >> and she had me count with her. >> one, two, three, four. >> and i continued the cpr the whole time. >> reporter: miles away, first time mom to be and prince

george's county dispatcher diena edwards kept calm. linda managed to get david's heart beating before ems arrived. >> is he breathing? >> yes. >> we get to the hospital, and at the hospital he flat-lained three more times. >> reporter: what followed was three more days of doctors with bad news. >> from then on, that he wasn't going to make it, and i didn't want to hear. that. >> reporter: linda poured her heart out to friends and family on facebook. >> and i asked them if they could come up and visit him, talk to him, touch him, and over 60 people came and saw him that day. it's a miracle. it's definitely a marry cal. i'm thankful. i'm thankful for everybody that helped. because, you know what, i wasn't going to let go of him. i wasn't going to let go of him. this is my child. >> reporter: david is doing fine. the 24-year-old says he took meds to try and end it all after battling years of chronic

testicular pain that countless procedures and operations couldn't fix. he says the outpouring of love and care showed him the value his life has. >> all may friends have told me after this they're like, you're one of the best friends i've ever had. it puts things in perspective. >> not many people live to hold a book of their own eulogy. >> i miss so you much. i just can't wrap my head around this. >> everybody has a purpose in being here, and i believe my purpose is to prevent other people from committing suicide. >> reporter: it's a lesson not many people learn but one david says he will he never forget. >> i'm glad he has a new outlook on life and that he could take that experience and change the way he is every day. >> reporter: david wants to find a suicide prevention organization to work with to help others. he says he feels so lucky to have this second chance. if you have any ideas for david, join the conversation. post those ideas on our facebook page. his mom linda says she can't

stress enough how important it is to know cpr, and without it, she said she may not have her son today, derek. >> a couple of powerful lessons there. thank you so much, deb bra. geneticists are studying the dna of gunman adam lanza. you know him. he's the gunman who shot his own mom and then killed 26 people at sandy hack elementary before he killed himself. officials in newtown, many time, say, please, we appreciate it, but stop sending us gifts. workers just can't keep up with all the packages that are still coming in. instead, people what want to offer condolences are asked to help folks in their own community. you feel like hitting the slots? now you can do it 24/7. starting today you can gamble around the clock at the maryland live casino in hanover. voters approved the move last month. the casino president thinks, hey this is great. every night they typically have to ask hundreds of guests to

leave at closing time. vas now, there is no closing time. but some people do worry that unlimited hours could give gamblers unlimited opportunity to lose their money. don't go anywhere. find out which story you told us you wanted to see. plus, an 80-year-old man on a quest for love. find out how he's letting the world know that he wants a wife. and i hope you weren't hungry tonight. you won't be wanting that midnight snack after russ ptacek's food alert. the dirty details coming up. and if you've got a new tablet from the holidays, you will want to download our brand- new 9news app. it's your link to the latest news and weather and it works on several tablets including the ipad and the kindle fire. just log

get ready. we have got a confrontation caught on camera. investigative reporter russ

ptacek gets thrown out of a grocery store, and the mice leave their mark at a popular japanese restaurant. oh yeah, it's time for the food alert. >> reporter: grab your smartphones. in a moment, how to know about these restaurant closures even before broadcast. but first, a lot of you have tweeted me asking, how do you pick these restaurants? well, they are serious violations that couldn't be fixed while the inspector was there. so the health department ordered them closed. in temple hills at fuji mountain steakhouse on branch avenue, the kitchen gets good reviews for woks of japanese cooking. so good, customers often order and pay in advance. >> reporter: the health department found droppings all over the kitchen. >> droppings. oh my gosh. and i paid. oh pie gosh. >> reporter: what would we find? we'll show you in a moment.

but first, this closure on bening road, southeast, at dollar plus food store. inspectors shut it down, reporting unsanitary conditions including no hot water, no sanitation supervisor, and no one who could even answer basic food safety questions. >> get out of the store. >> reporter: true manager? >> i said get out of the store. >> reporter: we're here to talk to you about the health department closure. >> you've got to talk to the owner. >> reporter: the owner didn't respond. the same rules that apply that shut down this grocery store also apply to liquor stores that handle food. at this liquor store inspectors suspended its license for no hot water. >> reporter: hi, i'm russ ptacek with channel 9. we're here about the health department closure. >> reporter: at turntable restaurant on georgia avenue northwest they're known for their jamaican style ox tail. inspectors closed the bar citing a dirty refrigerator, no food safety manager, and no hot

water. they showed us the hot water, a clean kitchen, and proof of a food safety manager on duty. >> reporter: thank you. can you just show us the kitchen real quick? >> reporter: back at fuji mountain, inspectors credited rodent droppings on bags of flour, salt and sugar, and in the sushi area. and we looked, too, but -- no rough department tracks. the manager said they killed in a an exterminate oh, cleaned up, and put in doorstoppers to seal rodents out. >> reporter: when you say a doorstopper, you mean this thing here? >> it keeps the rats away. >> reporter: that's new? >> even we did some extra. >> reporter: you tightened your doors and patched up the ceiling. >> that's right. we tried to make sure we're doing everything right. >> reporter: they all passed reinspection and are now back in business. now, to know first, follow at russ ptacek on twitter. i'm investigative reporter russ ptacek, 9news. >> that's good news about the

sushi part of the restaurant. by the way, it is time for choose your news. we asked our facebook friends which story they wanted to see. dog rescued from cliff, monkeys enjoy campfire, or lantern festival in thailand. the winner is the doggy. after spending three days stuck on a ledge in oregon, chico the pit bull is back home. he wandered off and his owner finally found him at the bottom of a steep embankment. she called in the fire department. they repelled down and rescued chico. he was hungry, he was scared, but he was just fine. everybody loves a good happy ending for a dog story. >> the dog story will always win. >> i think they will. the lanterns weren't that exciting. >> it was a pretty display. >> yes, it was. but does it compare tochi co? >> no. >> it does not. >> chico the pit bull wins. we have a little bit of improvement in tomorrow's forecast. however, things go right back downhill as we head into saturday. let's take a look outside with the michael & son weather cam.

some clouds in place but none of the kind of cloud cover that's going to produce any rain. 38 degrees right now with a dew point of 25. so temperatures aren't falling too quickly, but we will see the clouds clear out of here, then they're just going to drop like a rock as we head past the midnight hour. winds out of the west-northwest at 10 miles per hour right now. that's a big improvement from those 40-plus-mile-per-hour winds gusts we had during the day. but the winds are going to continue to settle down even a little bit better than what we have out there right now. sunny and chilly for your friday, but then on saturday, more snow in the forecast. temperatures are going to remain below normal, even after saturday has come and gone. right now it is 34 he degrees in frederick, 36 in leesburg, same temperature at andrews. 40 at annapolis. with the winds, though, we still have windchills in the 20s. winchester 22, culpeper 36. feels like 28 in leesburg and it feels like 26 in frederick. 23 in hagerstown where we had

gusts near 30 miles per hour at the last hour. satellite and radar shows our approaching storm system. first, the cloud cover, and then that cloud deck will lower and thicken as we head through the overnight on friday into saturday. but you can see that one pocket of energy with the cold air up in iowa and wisconsin, and then the warmer air with the showers of rain that is down in the gulf coast, and those two are going to collide and bring us a little bit of precipitation on saturday. 9 futurecast keeping us dry through saturday. you will see a few more clouds in the evening on saturday, but we keep it dry until we get into the early morning hours on saturday, and that's when we are going to be concerned about this snow arriving. i do think that we will see a light coating of snow even in the district and points south on the beltway, and this snow will -- it will depart by about the dinner time hour on saturday, but we're still going to have a little bit of an accumulating snow on saturday. overnight chilly, not too

breezy. 22 to 30 with winds out of the west at 5 to 15 miles per hour. mostly sunny tomorrow morning. just a light breeze. 30s for your temperatures in the morning, but with the windchills, still going to feel like it's in the 20s as we head into tomorrow afternoon. it will be sunny but at least a little bit of improvement in our temperatures. 38 to 44 with winds out of the west-southwest at 5 to 15 miles per hour. so we're in the green zone on friday, but a yellow alert for saturday because of that wintry mix. most of the precipitation will be in the form of snow, which is why we're expecting a light coating throughout the beltway. sunday will be breezy, but at least it will be dry for the game. that's a big improvement in our forecast. monday, probably the best day of the week before new year's day. another chance at a snow shower. >> you mentioned the most important word. the game. >> the game. >> hey, it's here, man. well, it's not here, but it's about to be here. i've got a different spin on the game tonight. trust me. who says politics and sports

don't mix? sunday night's big game, hey, it's already been decided by democracy. how about that? a nation weighs in on redskins v cowboys. wait until you se

all right, hear me now. america hates the cowboys. do i have your attention? rabid redskins fans like derek mcginty and bruce johnson have been telling us for years, most people may think that, ah, those guys, that's just their burgundy blood coming out of them, but tonight, america, in this election year, we bring you evidence that derek and bruce are not actually loco. they know what they're talking about. maybe. it is the match-up of the week. espn conducted a poll asking viewers who they wanted to win, and take a look at. this more than 200,000 responded. over 73% say they want

redskins. red states, redskins. only one blue state, down there in texas. so with all precincts reporting, wusa can now confirm the redskins are the next playoff recipient. >> think about great experiences you've had or bad memories, because you want to take advantage of these opportunities. they don't come around every day. >> the stakes are high. emotions are going to be high. i mean, we've just got to come out. we have to basically be perfect if we want to win this game. >> no doubt about that. ed reed can't get a break, the league fining him 55 g's for this hit. i didn't think it was that wad. last month he was suspended for a hit in the steelers game. it was later overturned although he still had to pay $50,000. the best gifts are the ones you don't expect, and boy was that ever reenforced in the dmv this summer. with all the attention on high-

profile olympic swimmers like phelps and loche, katie from stone ridge high school is the number four sports moment of the year. she was the youngest u.s. olympian at the games. wasn't even considered a favorite to win the 100-meter freestyle. after all, she qualified third, and she was only 15. in the finals, she led virtually wire to wear, recorded the second fastest time ever, and instant hero status when she returned home to the dmv. family and tv crews were there to capture it all. katie ledecke, our number four sports moment of the year. finally, how bad has it gotten for the wizards? even when things go well, they don't. last night, webster with a throw-down, but check this out. waived off because he helped himself with the dunk.

offensive goal tending. no bucket. >> how weak do you have to be to help yourself dunk in the nba? >> and he's 6'